Divided
by EscapeArtist25
Summary: Starts off after the season 4 midseason finale. Herschel is dead, Judith is presumed dead, and worst of all, the entire group is separated. What happens to them? Chapter 1 is just an introduction. Better chapters to come. Rated M for language, violence, and frightening scenes
1. Chapter 1

**Glenn***

"No! What are you doing?!"

"I was instructed to wait as long as I could, you see those walkers following us?" 

"You're leaving a large part of the council behind you!"

"That's not my problem!"  
"You're leaving Maggie and her sister too! What about them? What about baby Judith?"

"That, is most certainly not my problem either."

Why am I letting this unknown person drive and make the calls? With Rick gone, plus Carol, Daryl, Maggie, Herschel…

I stand up and do what they would have done.

I pull out my loaded gun and put it to the girl's head. "Stop the fucking bus, or so help me God…"

**Maggie***

Sasha is still sick, and Bob is injured, so our small group is forced to take more breaks than I'm comfortable with. Not because of the walkers-they've all been drawn to the prison. I haven't seen one since we left. And not the governor's people either, most of them stopped fighting once he died, the others, are still back there. But when we stop, I have time to think of my father. And I don't want to, I can't deal with it yet. We all have jobs to do.

"You know," Sasha says through labored breathing, "you'd have thought we all would have prepared for something like this."

"We thought the governor was dead or moved on."

"No, I mean that we should have prepared for being split up. In the worst case scenario, where we all would meet…something like that."

Valid point. If we ever find the rest of our family again…Rick, Carl, Daryl, Beth…I'll make a point to do that. But the most important thing right now, is finding water. And there isn't any in sight.

**Daryl***

I hadn't thought about little asskicker before we left…I shoulda checked her carseat, I shoulda figured out a way to take her with us. How could I have been so dumb? The only thing on my mind was killin those assholes and getting out of there alive. I thought about goin' back for her, but that place is crawling with walkers. She was probably gone before I even left, if she wasn't, she sure as hell is now.

I'm surprised Beth is taking it as well as she is, she ain't cryin or anything. She surprises me sometimes. She may as well have been Judith's mother. She's been the one to take care of her and raise her, feed her, sing to her…I'm sure it's almost as bad for her as it is for Rick and Carl. Not as bad, but almost.

"Daryl, there's a house." She states, pointing her empty shotgun towards it.

"Good."

**Tyreese***

"We go this way!" I shouted to the two little blond girls. They shook their heads and kept going in their direction, so I had no choice but to follow them. For the most part, they just dodged walkers, only shooting the ones absolutely necessary. I thought for a second that we were done for, but it turns out, they knew exactly what they were doing the whole time. They led the way to a small opening in the fence that was hidden, on the opposite wall of the main gate.

"No one knows about this way out," the older one said, the younger one nodding in agreement. I motioned for them to go first, then the three of us got out. "Run as fast as you can, until your legs can't take you any farther. I'll be right behind you."

**Rick***

The day I first saw Carl in the hospital, brand new baby boy, I was so in love with him that it terrified me. Things ran through my mind like, what if I fail as a father? What if I don't know how to take care of him? Lori always told me to stop being ridiculous when I said those things, and told me I was a great husband and a great father. Lori always put her faith in me, and I always did right by them, or I tried to. Carl's alive, and he's smart, and strong, and cunning, but I still failed. Judith is gone. The blood in the car seat don't lie.

I keep thinking what if I had done things differently? It was less than an hour ago, if I could just go back and change it. The governor isn't a reasonable man. He's shown that to us. Why did I try to reason with him? We lost the prison anyway. But if I had left when he said to, Herschel would still be alive, and we'd all be together.

"Stop it." Carl tells me.

"Stop what?"

"Blaming yourself. For Judith. For Herschel."

"I didn't say t…"

"It doesn't change anything."


	2. Responsibility

"We can't take care of a baby Lilly! What are we supposed to feed it? It's going to cry! The dead are attracted to noise. I swear you're absolutely fucking crazy."

"Tara, we couldn't just leave her there. She's an innocent child. Not that innocence matters at all to you."

"What the fuck you just say to me?!"

I can't hold it in anymore. I set the baby girl on the ground next to a rock. I sit on the rock and bury my face in my hands, shaking my head. "All those people Tara, all those people…"

She sighs. "I told you, once I realized Brian was a crazed lunatic I refused to fight. I didn't fire a shot."

I look up from my hands, tears forming. "How could we have been fooled so easily?"

"Don't do that, please don't cry, I don't know how to handle it."

"I can't believe I actually thought I could love that guy."

"What I can't believe is how I didn't figure it out. I can normally see right through people, you know that."

"It isn't your fault. He fooled everyone in the camp. Everyone. He's a master manipulator, he knows how to talk to people."

I look over to check on Judith and she's pulling weeds out of the ground by the rock.

"Seriously though. What are we going to do with her?" Tara asks me.

"I don't know."

She hasn't asked me about Megan. I can't say I'm surprised. She knows it's a sore point and she hates seeing anyone in pain. She feels responsible for everyone else's pain, partially why she's so bitter, I think.

I haven't made my peace with it? How could I? You never get over the death of your child…you just…find a new normal. But after seeing so much loss, maybe I'm kind of numb to it all. Maybe killing Brian is masking my pain with the sweet feeling of revenge. Maybe I've just lost my mind. Or maybe, I know wherever she is, it's so much better than this place is.

Another reason I took that little girl. After I shot the governor I went off looking for Tara, but heard a baby's cry. A walker was getting close to her, and more were hearing her cry. What was I supposed to do? Way I saw it, my options were either to kill the walker, and walk away hoping someone, from her own family or group, would come and get her, or take her myself.

Her life was at stake. I put myself in her mother's shoes, whoever she may be. If Megan's life were in danger and a stranger could take her away from it all, I'd want her to. So I took her. She's real young, can't be more than eight months or so.

Which means she was conceived after this all happened, the outbreak. Selfish, I think, but then sometimes it can't really be prevented.

"So what do we call her? It's a shame she doesn't have some kinda nametag or something."

"She's not a dog, Tara."

"I'm just saying if I had a baby I'd make sure I left something on the tag of her outfit or something with her name, in case I ever got separated from her."

"Maybe they did." I check her tag and see the letter "J".

"Not sure what it stands for," I tell Tara.

"Let's call her Jay."

I nod in agreement.

"We gotta go."

I pick the baby up, and make a point of getting one of those things you wear on your chest that you can strap the baby into, should we pass any kind of store that would have it. Gonna be hard to run with a baby in your arms all the time.


End file.
